Legend of the Smallest Army
by Blanska
Summary: The five heroes of the a capella group, Pentatonix, and their history so far is truly amazing. They are talented, inspiring people, like the heroes of great legends. I can imagine them fighting dragons and traveling to distant kingdoms. If you want to read their story the way I see it, here's your chance...
1. Chapter 1: Meeting

Introduction

I'm sure you have heard of the smallest army ever that had only five members and conquered the world as if it was the easiest thing on Earth. This is a mighty legend that everyone knows by heart and not only in the Land of Eagles. The people tell tales about them to their children, they admire their bravery, their heroic deeds. Little boys want to fight like them, and girls want to enchant the world as they did. But it's not just a story about great battles. It's about the rise of heroes, finding love, family and home. If you ever tell the tale to your children, tell it from the beginning, so they can learn, that everyone can be a hero.

Chapter 1: Meeting

There are many who hail fom King's Nest and tell the tales of The Smallest Army with such proud fire in their eyes. The real story however begins in a long forgotten village by the name of Laurel. We don't know much about this small settlement for it is long gone, but we know for sure that a young lad named Pellerin used to live there with his family. They had to work hard to earn that little money they had, but they lived in peace for a long time until the firestorm came. Not just any firestorm. A noble man, named Lord Raban lived in a catsle not far from this village. He started a war with his neighbours, and was trying to cause damage by burning their farmlands. That's how the peaceful village of Laurel was destroyed forever. Lord Raban's men came at night, shut the gates, threw torches to every roof, and put many people to the sword. Pellerin only just escaped with his life. He was very young at the time, but still the tallest in the village. He climbed the paliside, and following his parents' commands ran to the woods.

The next day, when the fires were out, and the wind was blowing away Laurel's ashes, Pellerin went back to search the ruins, but found only death. He was angry at Lord Raban and not just because he destroyed his home, but Pellerin couldn't do anything about it. There was only one person who could bring justice in this matter, the most powerful nobleman in the Land of Eagles, the king himself. He was so furious at the time he immeadiately decided to go to King's Nest and report this treachary to King Arvid. As he prepared to leave the smoky ruins behind, he saw something moving in one of the houses. He realized there was a girl trapped under the ruins. He quickly freed the young woman, and aksed what happened to her. Her name was Fidelia and she came to Laurel in the company of traveling actors. She was with these actors since she was very little, they were the only family she had. They sent her to the village to get some supplies and when the firestorm came she got trapped and the actors saving their own skin, left her behind. Fidelia said she wanted to find them again, but she couldn't go alone, so she joined Pellerin on his way to the capital.

The two didn't get too far from the ruins of Laurel when the forest started to get extremely cold. It was like winter decided to come early this year, and the air got colder with every step. Suddenly they heard an angelic voice from behind the trees, the most beautiful voice they've ever heard, singing the most sorrowful song in the world. The melody led them to a snowy clearing, where all the trees were frozen, and every leaf was frosted. A beautiful young man was sitting there, singing his mournful song. Pellerin recognized him from the village, his name was Johan, but he hadn't seen him in years. Johan told them that he left Laurel because everyone was mean to him, and made fun of his voice. Pellerin and Fidelia didn't understand why he would run away, because he had such magical voice. They begged him to stop singing before he freezes everyone, and told him jokes to make him laugh. When Johan started laughing the snow melted and the flowers revived. Pellerin told him he was going to see the king and ask him to do justice, and Johan decided to accompany them.

After a few weeks the three of them reached the capital, King's Nest. It was a huge city, bigger than anything they've ever seen. They knew King Arvid would never agree to see them, the only chance they got was a tourney held in the king's honor. The winner would feast with the king and ask him for any favor. But they were no noblemen and no warriors, they didn't even know how to swing sword. A leader of mercenaries overheard them talking about the tourney, and he offered his help for a great deal of gold. They had to refuse, because they had no money, but the mercenary told them he would lead his soldiers on their side if they proved they were strong and brave enough to win the tourney. He said if they went to a cave nearby where an evil dragon lived and retrieved one of the beast's claws they would prove themselves and win the mercenaries' favor. They had nothing better planned, so they agreed to do it, and searched for the dragon's cave.

They found the place, but there was only a caved in entrance. They've been searching for another way in for hours, but eventually they gave up, and prepared to leave when Fidelia told the others to be quiet. They were listening to the wind for a while, then they heard a soft whispering from the old entrance. They went closer, and heard that someone was trapped in the cave and was asking them to get him out. Pellerin said it could be some kind of trick of the evil dragon, and demanded explanation from the whispering man. The man said his name was Etele and he lost a bet against his friends, so he had to spend ten minutes in the dragon's cave. He was alone in the dark when he heard an alarming noise, he shouted in his fright and the rocks fell down, and shut the entrance. There was no dragon only this trapped man, abandoned by his freinds, so they cleared the rocks away, and freed him. Etele owed them his life so he offered his help in reaching King Arvid. He has heard tales of a man who arrived from foreign lands and lived in the king's library, studying from its books for many years now. Some people said he was the wisest man in the realm and never left the castle. Others stated that it was just a rumour because no one has ever seen this man.

They returned to King's Nest, and talked to people in the tavern, who told them various rumours about this man. Some said he was a scholar, others said he was a wizard, or a priest, and they also heard he was just a sharlatan. The only detail that all the stories agreed on was that he was called Levent. The four companions decided to reach Levent somehow, if he really was the wisest man in the realm he could certainly help them. Fidelia dressed up as a servant of the castle, and brought some food to the library. There she found a man sleeping on a desk. She woke him, and asked if he could help her and her friends. Levent was too busy with his sadness, because he read all the books in the country and haven't found the truth in knowledge. There's no more books te read, no more art to learn. Fidelia told him about her companions, described the curious talents they had, and Levent found it interesting, asked her to tell more. She admitted that the actor she used to travel with used her talents to rob people. They made her sing, the audience fell asleep instantly then the actor cut their purses and left them with nothing. It was a whole new thing for Levent, so he told Fidelia he wanted to meet these people and learn from them.

Levent was talking to them for a long time and each of the told him about their strange stories. At last Etele asked him in his whispering voice if he knew how to acquire a dragon's claw, but Levent told them no dragons lived near King's Nest. The tourney was on the next day, so they had no time for quests to distant lands, they had to decide what to do. Pellerin had no home to go back to, only the craving for justice. Fidelia didn't know where the traveling actor were and even if she did, she didn't want to help thieves. Johan didn't have anyone who liked as he was, he ran away from every place until he join Pellerin's company. Etele was abandoned by his friends, didn't want to go back to them, because real friends would be loyal. For Levent all the world's libraries were empty, he knew every science, every art, but still he wanted to learn something new. That's how they decided to enter the tourney, because they had no home to return to. There only five of them against twenty or thirty soldiers on the side of each nobleman. They had no weapons, only hope in their hearts.


	2. Chapter 2: Learning

Chapter 2: Learning

Noblemen and their soldiers, rich merchants and their mercenaries, many many groups took part in the King's Trouney. All were highly trained in the arts of war, had strong arms and mighty weapons, except for one. There were five unarmed commoners, ready to die in the first round. Though Levent had a beautiful crossbow, he refused to use it since his companions had no weapons to fight with. They were thrown into the huge arena, where the first parts of the tourney took place. The public was laughing and shouting cruel jokes at the small, hopeless team. The opponent entered the field. Lord Vilbald had twenty-five soldiers in his party, they all were laughing at their young foes. They slowly encircled them, unsheathing their weapons. The five were in a small circle facing the enemy, and they were trembeling in the sight of death.

One of the soldiers had enough games, and wanted to end this round quickly. He stepped closer to Pellerin and lifted his sword to hit him with its grip, but he got a paw and sharp claws to the face in return. The soldiers were in shock as they saw that a great lion was standing in the stead of the young man. Eight of them were taking up positions to fight the animal, but the rest was approaching the remaining members. One man grabbed Johan's arm who cried out in fright. Flames appeared with every shout that came from his mouth. It scared the soldiers, but they did not back off. Johan was begging Fidelia to sing and put everyone to sleep, but her throat was full of fear and the song didn't seem to work. A warrior grabbed her arm and wanted to strike her, and in that moment Etele let out a rousing shout. The ground began to shake and everyone lost their balance in the arena. As the soldiers got on their feet again, they fled the field, because they had no desire to battle such powers. Only Lord Vilbald was shouting commands, ordering his men to attack, but they abandoned him. Levent stepped forward and started to imitate the sound of bees. It was a trick he mastered long ago, and as the noise became stronger bees appeared from nowhere and surrounded Lord Vilbald who ran out of the arena.

That is how Pellerin and his companions survived the first round of the tourney and raised fear in the hearts of everyone who saw their great power. The audience was displeased, they were yelling in their fear, calling the winning team a company of monsters and demons. It was likely that the king rules them out of the competition for using some kind of foul sorcery, but King Arvid wanted entertainment, and decided to let them continue the tourney. After they left the arena, a knight named Ser Tallak walked up to Pellerin and his company, and offered his help in the coming rounds. He could not join the group, and didn't wanted to either. He said he wanted to support them and show the nobles that the unusual doesn't mean weak or evil, but it is powerful in its own way. Our small army liked the way the knight was thinking and gladly accepted his help.

In the second round, they were alone in the arena, and instead of warriors, they had to defeat time, and complete a whole lot of tasks. First, the team had to send their riders, to throw spear at targets from horseback, then footsoldiers had to wound an army of straw dummies, and they also needed their archers to hit in the middle several targets. Finally, the team had to signal they were finished by seizing a flag, which could be reached only from a top of a shield wall. Pellerin and his friends had no horses, no bows and no shields, but they had a plan how to complete the round in a record time, although they risked exclusion with their not quite traditional method.

When the squire gave the sign to begin the game, every member started running to different sections. Pellerin turned into a bull, and started to hit the targets, instead of spears with his horns. Fidelia and Etele ran to the dummies and began to cut them with knives they got from Ser Tallak. Johan and Levent ran to the archery field, and shot the targets with the crossbow or shards of ice. Fidelia and Etele were the first to finish and they immeadiately went for the flag. Fidelia was supposed to stand under the flag, while Etele raised the ground under her feet until she could reach it. But as soon as the ground started moving, Johan who was still busy with his archery got distracted by the sound, and a shard of ice darted off only inches away from Levent's face. Johan kept apologizing while Levent shot the remaining targets, and waved to Fidelia to let her know she can take the flag. They did finish it in a very short time, but their curious ways of completing the round were not amusing enough to King Arvid, who gave them one last chance after all.

The third round was coming in which they had to face a company of mercenaries, and get hold of something they were guarding and protect another object from them at the same time. They had it all planned out and Fidelia was the essential piece of their tactic. She was supposed to put the mercanaries to slumber while the boys tried to take the target. But a few minutes before the game began they were still looking for her, and only when they entered the field they got informed that she was the one they needed to rescue. They also had a member of their foes they had to defend, but their plan couldn't work without Fidelia. They had to choose another tactic, and they only had time to decide who is going to attack or defend.

The game began and Pellerin and Johan started to approach the other group very slowly and were trying to avoid the ones that were coming to attack. The rest stayed with the bound warrior, but they needed to do something, so Levent created an illusion of a tall and massive wall around their prisoner, and Etele's voice immeadiately turned it into stone and with that into reality. Pellerin and Johan were almost at the defenders and Johan conjured a circle of flames around them while Pellerin changed his shape to a lion's. He charged, jumped through the flames which got stuck on his legs and in his hair and got under his skin. A lion with a body of fire he became and scattered the defense and fought the mercenaries who were fleeing from him in terror. Johan freed Fidelia and started running back with her to their own defenders and Pellerin joined them too, but Fidelia stopped in the middle of the arena, turned around and with a piercing cry she knocked out all their pursuers.

The third round was over in a remarkaby short time, and the public was watching in dead silence. At the end some of them even started to clap or cheer, because it was so amazing to see how easily the small team worked. Pellerin and his company experienced something very new that day. When they were together, being themselves everything went so easily, if they were not the ones who did it, they would have never believed it. They found a new voice in each other, heard a new side of themselves, and wanted to keep marching, because there was a secret power in them that made them want to go on and never to stop.


End file.
